User talk:BrianG
My User Page My Talk Page My Characters __TOC__ A Wintersday gift for you... Happy Wintersday! I gave the same one to Sir On The Edge, but it applies to both of you very well, so I hope you don't mind.— [[User:Azroth|'Azroth']] 02:21, 27 December 2006 (CST) :Hey awesome! Thanks, I've been planning to add userboxes to my page so this will motivate me to get going on that. -- BrianG 03:31, 27 December 2006 (CST) ::Wow, you should definitely add that broke box to Gems contest. Its awesome :)— [[User:Azroth|'Azroth']] 14:32, 28 December 2006 (CST) :::Hahaha I think I will. I didn't even know about that contest, thanks for the heads-up. Glad you like the broke box, if you are broke feel free to use it as well. What do you think of my redesign of the Buildguru box? I thought the icon was especially appropriate. Did you come up with the original Buildguru box? -- BrianG 15:00, 28 December 2006 (CST) ::::I like the redesign. I did create the one on my page from scratch, but I cant say for certain if I'm the only one who has something like it because I haven't seen that many user pages. Your image is awesome though and fits it really well. I'm not quite broke yet, but if I do find myself in that situation I'll definitely take you up on that box :)— [[User:Azroth|'Azroth']] 23:10, 28 December 2006 (CST) :::::Good find Azroth and thanks for adverting my competitionn. :) BrianG: Your broke and buildguru boxes are great! Go ahead and submit them to the competition. -- (talk) 23:16, 28 December 2006 (CST) ::::::np, I do what I can, and since I'm giving boxes as gifts advertising your competition as well is quick and easy. Gonna have to try and make my buildguru box more flashy now. Cant risk having the original get shown up by the new guy :P— [[User:Azroth|'Azroth']] 23:28, 28 December 2006 (CST) Ahhhh thanks guys, I will submit them tonight. Azroth I hope you don't mind that I borrowed and modified the buildguru idea. -- BrianG 00:28, 29 December 2006 (CST) :np, I don't hog my userboxes like Gem hogs his icons ;P— [[User:Azroth|'Azroth']] 01:35, 29 December 2006 (CST) Re: vote issue works for me, my only issue was trying to help and getting a "wth are u doing" reaction from Jyro, besides that i had been watching that particular article for a while and had tried to do my best to show what was going on and take the correct steps to fix the issue and here comes jyro with his blind fire to scold me for my actions... just a bit annoyed. As long as the vote is counting as it should im happy --Midnight08 17:37, 2 January 2007 (CST) :I hear you, I think everyone was just a bit tense from the previous issue, but since I wasn't really involved I figured I could sort it out easier. You and Jyro are usually both very reasonable from what I've seen, so I think it was all a misunderstanding that got out of hand due to tension regarding vote strikeouts. You just made a simple mistake by deleting the comment, but he mistook it for a vote that was deleted hence the strong reaction. -- BrianG 17:43, 2 January 2007 (CST) ::yep i saw that but if i ever get to the point im annoyed the issue is no longer mine to deal with (since i am no longer technically objective)... glad you helped out --Midnight08 17:47, 2 January 2007 (CST) :::No problem! :) -- BrianG 17:49, 2 January 2007 (CST) Congratulations... Congrats on the honorable mention on Gems contest.— [[User:Azroth|'Azroth']] 23:08, 2 January 2007 (CST) :Thanks! :) I think I might try making a few more, I'll let you know if I come up with anything else cool. -- BrianG 23:42, 2 January 2007 (CST) ::kk, I'm thinking of creating a series of boxes for users who post builds. I'll create a, deleted build box, unfavored build box, favored build box, untested build box, build voter, build creator, and then a few joke boxes like "this user questions unfavored votes" and "this users votes are set in stone" or something like that. Can you think of anything I'm missing or do you think this is too much?— [[User:Azroth|'Azroth']] 00:18, 3 January 2007 (CST) :::Hmmm what would the favored and untested ones be used for? Voter and creator and the joke ones are good though, as long as you find the right images. I've been thinking my next boxes are going to be based on Stoneflesh Aura (this user is immune to critical attacks) and Frigid Armor (this user is immune to flaming). Something like that but find a clever way to word them. Let me know if you come up with anything cool. I think a funny joke box could be done with Spirit of Failure, about people reacting to their builds being unfavored, or maybe Shatterstone, something about shattered hopes, hahaha. P.S. I did what I should have done when I entered the contest, and added background colors to my boxes, they look a bit better. -- BrianG 00:16, 5 January 2007 (CST) ::::Damnit... this made me wanna make 1.... so i look in nec skills and the 1st 1 that catches my eye is another Skuld referance... "Oppressive Gaze" tho i guess it would work for aloy of the GvG vetters=P--Midnight08 00:21, 5 January 2007 (CST) :::::The favored and unfavored ones would be for people who have created vetted and unfavored builds. I like your "flaming" and "critical" ideas, and the there is always a way to gear a box towards Skuld. I went ADD on this though and somehow found myself working to level up my new ranger, necro, and mesmer. I'll get to it eventually, its not like I can pay attention to what I'm doing now for very long :P— [[User:Azroth|'Azroth']] 03:41, 5 January 2007 (CST) Hey! Yeah, thanks for the tips. But the build is still raw, so, I was hasty in posting it. You seem to know how to play Rits too, and I saw in your 'to do' things that you may have some elite skills to get. So if you want, i'm offering you to help me work on my build, and I'll help you capp all the elites skills you'll need with your tirualist! deal? (got all Rit skills, elite included, btw ;)). Later! -- :No problem, and don't worry that it was posted in haste, thats what the stubs section is for. Its great for posting raw builds and then other people will help you fine tune it before its submitted for testing. As for my ritualist, the main problem is that she is not far enough into Nightfall to cap the elites I want, since I've been spending all my nightfall time on new characters instead. Grasping Was Kuurong shouldn't be a problem though as she is far enough in Factions. So I'm not sure if I'll need help with anything specifically, its just going to be a time consuming process working my ritualist through nightfall. Feel free to add me to your friends list using any of the character names from my page though, and if we're online at the same time we can discuss ritualists or go capping. But either way, I'm glad to provide suggestions for your build, since I've wanted to put Spirit Communing to a good use. The main opposition you'll face during testing is that people will say the Build:Rt/any Attuned Restorer is better, since generally Attuned Was Songkai is considered a much more effective elite. They are probably right, but I think its more fun to find a use for a less popular elite. Be prepared for the possibility that your build may not be favored by others though. -- BrianG 14:39, 8 January 2007 (CST) Build redesign I updated the build page redesign proposal talk page. Make sure to let me know what you think of the recent changes and the options at the bottom I wrote about.-- ''Vallen Frostweaver'' 10:10, 11 January 2007 (CST) Two new boxes for you ;) I'm on to you. You pretend to be a helpful person buy I know what your real agenda is. Therefore, I give you these two new userboxes, so that all will know what you're really up to :P lol. Feel free to mess with the colors or just delete them if you want. I just had to make you these since you have so many already. :P— [[User:Azroth|'Azroth']] 14:20, 12 January 2007 (CST) :Oh and heres one more based off of your version of the buildguru box. :As with the other two feel free to mess with the colors or just delete it if you want. Enjoy. ;)— [[User:Azroth|'Azroth']] 14:31, 12 January 2007 (CST) ::LOL. I especially like the last one, that rules. The first 2 are clever but seem to be more of an accurate description of you since you made so many for people! Honestly I can't believe you got away with that and didn't end up with a userbox on your page that makes use of Epidemic! ;) I think I will definitely use the last one on my page, I like how it goes with my other guru box. I might pass on the others though since I think I'm reaching a limit of how many I want! Since I need to add them in pairs to keep them even, I'll have to think about one more to add. Maybe the top 2 boxes you made could be combined into one? Let me think about it. What do you think of my elementalist boxes though? I thought you might appreciate them. -- BrianG 16:26, 12 January 2007 (CST) :::They're great imho. The colors work well, the images fit, and the wording is perfect. You definitely have a knack for wasting time :P I'll leave the creation of the second box up to you though. I cant just hand you everything, some stuff you have to work for or you'll never learn anything :P lol...Oh, and on a side note I agree, I cant believe I haven't gotten an epidemic box yet either. NOTE:this is not, I repeat not, an invitation to make me one.this may be an invitation to make me one :P— [[User:Azroth|'Azroth']] 00:26, 15 January 2007 (CST) ::::Hehehe, now that my Build Page Redesign proposal is completed, and the Double XP for Elite Capture event is over, I should have some more spare time, maybe I will work on userboxes tonight ;) -- BrianG 11:40, 15 January 2007 (CST) Yay! You added it. ^_^ And to think not only did I start the userbox epidemic, but I also got you started on userboxes. *strokes chin maniacly* Yes...yes...all according to plan.... Ummm...yeah, maybe those other two do apply more to me than you, lol. :P— [[User:Azroth|'Azroth']] 23:54, 29 January 2007 (CST) :Hahaha, sorry for the delay, sometimes I'm indecisive and lazy. I finally decided how to lay it out and I think it looks really cool. I had a few ideas for another box but couldn't decide. Do you use a headset at all? Me and my friends just started using teamspeak and its really fun. I was thinking a "This user has Teamspeak for voice communication." might be cool, with a little headset logo. Could even link to a category? Hmmmm. -- BrianG 00:37, 30 January 2007 (CST) ::Hey, noticed you wanted to do the same thing as me but with another kind of userbox. If you ever get any help let me know. I currently have requests for help on here and here but no one has said yes or how yet - only interest in it so far and I'm sure we both have the same idea in mind but for different userboxes.-- ''Vallen Frostweaver'' 08:31, 30 January 2007 (CST) :::Yeah, I saw your request for assistance. Looks like you got a response pointing you in the right direction. I am clueless about templates, I don't even know how to find the code for one of them. If you make any progress figuring out how to do it, share your knowledge please! -- BrianG 11:03, 30 January 2007 (CST) ::::Aha! I have it figured out but I don't 100% know how I did it. I'll finish setting up the rest of the profession userboxes and by then I'm sure I'll have it down pat and can communicate what I have learned so you don't have to suffer like I did.-- ''Vallen Frostweaver'' 12:55, 30 January 2007 (CST) Well it's not too bad. If you would like, I'll gladly make one for you but I'll need some kind of icon to use that isn't ® or something. If you want to make it yourself just let me know and I'll make a step-by-step for you (and then probably keep a copy for myself too so I don't forget). Either way, just let me know. My userboxes are complete now so check them out and freely distribute them. They are located on my talk page.-- ''Vallen Frostweaver'' 14:07, 30 January 2007 (CST) :Congrats on getting your boxes finished. I think I'll stick with my Elementalist box though. Nothing personal, I just like skill icons better than profession icons. Good job, and I'd also be interested in seeing that step-by-step if you ever get around to it. ^_^ — [[User:Azroth|'Azroth']] 15:39, 30 January 2007 (CST) ::Yeah I would appreciate a step-by-step as well. I haven't got around to looking for a non-trademarked headset icon, but I'm sure it shouldn't be hard to find. -- BrianG 15:46, 30 January 2007 (CST) :::It's up and fresh from memory. I believe that it's accurate though I didn't try following my own steps to create another. If you have any problems with it let me know. It's on my revamped talk page (got it from Gem but I gave credit on my user page).-- ''Vallen Frostweaver'' 13:43, 31 January 2007 (CST) A Rangers Role BrianG: "...great help to beginners, who don't know a ranger's purpose in a group for example." Bah, when I started with my ranger, I knew EXACTLY what my role was. Run around in back trapping, cast firestorm when it refreshed, and res the healer after the party wiped (just once, because I was a RaEl. Needless to say, that ranger got deleted quickly, and my mending WaMo was much more successful! I've come a long way. -- Oblio (talk) 10:41, 24 January 2007 (CST) :Hahahaha. My first character was R/N cause I thought it would be cool to control a pet AND minions hahaha. My girlfriend's first character was an R/E, and like you she loved Firestorm. Eventually she fell in love with Barrage, but wanted to keep the Elementalist secondary, so I helped her make a Conjure Flame/Barrage build which she really likes. -- BrianG 10:51, 24 January 2007 (CST) ::What is hilarious is that after I deleted that character, I created a new ranger in Factions, who is now my favorite character by far. Most. Versitile. Class. Ever. -- Oblio (talk) 10:55, 24 January 2007 (CST) :::Yeah, I did the same thing and created a Factions ranger too (R/Mo). Kept the old one though for sentimental reasons and because I came up with a fun R/N beastmaster build. I really enjoyed my canthan ritualist, so I didn't spend enough time on my Canthan Ranger, and then nightfall came out. I just finally got around to capping Enraged Lunge so I'm looking forward to having some fun with that. Need to get a new pet though and try to make him dire. (Did you read about this new dire method where you let the pet kill you and let your hero res you over and over until its dire, then you charm it?). Next up I want to cap Escape and make a sweet R/Mo running build. Interruption is pretty cool too, ranger is a fun class. -- BrianG 11:03, 24 January 2007 (CST) ::::Whoa! Death leveling your dire pet. Crazy. If you ever want a spider, I keep a place in the underworld, its a second home now. I pointed out somewhere else, and will here as well that Dodge + Zojun's Haste + Natural Stride is a 24/7 33%+big evade, so IMO Escape is wasted (though those stupid naga in the jade sea sure point out its good points. Enraged lunge is sweetness, but lack of pet controls keeps me from running it in serious areas. Honestly, for me right now, its generally Burning Arrow or Barrage for me (which kind of sucks since keying 1-1-1-1-2-1-1-1-1 is kind of boring). But honestly, right now Natural Stride is the hands down best ranger defence skill for PvE. -- Oblio (talk) 11:32, 24 January 2007 (CST) :::::Hmmm yeah I do think Natural Stride is cool, but I'm not crazy about the fact that it ends if you are hexed. Seems less than ideal for some running situations. Also, with a R/Mo you'd want monk heals instead of troll unguent so the wilderness points are a bit of a problem. Definitely good for a ranger with a different secondary though. I have a friend with a Ranger but he only has nightfall, so no access to dodge or zojuns, so I'm going to recommend natural stride to him for sure (Natural Stride + Escape should work for a nightfall only running build). :::::About pets, yeah its definitely annoying that pet control is so poor and pet builds are mostly just fun and not actually that great. As shown by some of the useless nightfall skills, ANet doesn't really know what they are doing with beastmastery. Strike as One is the exact skill I was hoping for, if it wasn't Elite! Man, they can't even bother to fix Brutal Mauling which really ticks me off since I love my R/N's pet bear. -- BrianG 12:05, 24 January 2007 (CST) ::::::Strike as One is broken crap. If they doubled the damage on it, THEN I would make a choice between that and EL, and honestly, I still would probably dig on EL. Generally though, for casual PvE, I do like Heal as One. Its not bad to lose damage from my elite if I'm interrupting and spreading poison. -- Oblio (talk) 12:56, 24 January 2007 (CST) :::::::Yeah SaO was a big disappointment. I had actually imagined and hoped for that exact skill before nightfall came out. When I found out they actually made my imaginary skill, but it was an elite, I was really frustrated. I haven't tried Heal as One yet, but my main beef with that is that you either still have to bring Comfort, or risk not being able to res your pet. I think Pet Res is one of the biggest problems with beast mastery, it is too restrictive that you have to bring comfort and charm. I've always thought they should just change it so that Charm Animal can res your pet. That way you don't have a totally useless skill on your bar, and you aren't faced with the comfort dilemna, and you don't have to waste 2 skill slots. I'm sure it will never happen though. -- BrianG 13:09, 24 January 2007 (CST) Sad but true. Then only time BM builds have strength are broken B/P, pack hunters, or pet walls. Ranger is the one class where it breaks me to find a spot for a Cap Sig. Historicly, I just dump my pet. And that is a shame because I love the idea. Oddly, I didn't think the pet res was conditional on your own health. I'll have to double check that tonight. -- Oblio (talk) 13:17, 24 January 2007 (CST) :Oh wait a minute! I didn't realize they had updated Heal As One to be able to res your pet. It never used to do that, so thats what I meant about having to bring Comfort. I'll have to try it out now. But yeah, it is a shame about the lack of room on a beast master's skillbar. I've had to make up a rule with my guildmates that "beast masters don't bring res signets" since there just isn't room. -- BrianG 13:28, 24 January 2007 (CST) I'm here just to join the 'Love Your Ranger' club. My first character was a R/Me, Jessica, who still has over two thirds of my accounts play time. The ranger is so awesome as it can play so many different roles so easily. Toucher (the most broken PvE build ever), interrupter, trapper, runner, beast master (never been one myself. Someone could help me out with a nice and easy build so I could test it), etc. -- (talk) 15:41, 24 January 2007 (CST) :I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. What's a good broken PvE toucher build? I like exploiting red dots. :) (I knew people were running them in RA, but as I don't PvP I kind of ignored the build. Do you have a preferred R/N?) -- Oblio (talk) 16:02, 24 January 2007 (CST) ::See User:Gem/Builds#Forest Vampire. ;) -- (talk) 16:07, 24 January 2007 (CST) :::Hmmmmmm, that build looks perfect to try out on my R/N, thanks for the link. -- BrianG 11:08, 25 January 2007 (CST) ::::Ya, I'm going to see how it works on the margonites tonight. ("I don't care, about farming or 'bout bots, but when I think about you I touch red dots" with apologies to the DiVinyls) -- Oblio (talk) 11:17, 25 January 2007 (CST) Hi Brian I stole your userpage. ;) -- Misanthropist 19:57, 25 January 2007 (CST) :If you use the "My Characters" section, the layout came from Helena so be sure to give credit.— [[User:Azroth|'Azroth']] 14:29, 26 January 2007 (CST) ::Or else the gods of Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike will strike you down. I probably should shut my talk-hole on this, but I never cared about the attribution part of that other than as a courtesy (obviously courtesy is nice). But honestly, NonCommercial-ShareAlike is what makes the machine work. Attribution is just grease for the gears. :) -- Oblio (talk) 15:03, 26 January 2007 (CST) :::I am familiar with the credit process, I may or may not use the character part. I knew his page was taken from someone else, I just wanted an excuse to put something on his talk page (since I am new and wanted to learn how to post on here.) :P Misanthropist 16:09, 26 January 2007 (CST) ::::Hey guys, thanks for saving my girlfriend from the attribution gods, hahaha! Hopefully we'll do some work on her userpage this weekend. -- BrianG 19:40, 26 January 2007 (CST) :::::Hey Brian, you should take a look at Kayas and Aberrants userpages if you haven't already. As it is once I figure out Navbars I'm probably gonna redo my page in a similar fashion. They just look really nice.— [[User:Azroth|'Azroth']] 13:11, 27 January 2007 (CST) ::::::Yeah, I really like the profession header bars that Kaya and Smurf are using, I might borrow that. I'm not sure whether I want to use collapsable boxes or not. I think I might just make page tabs but I want to come up with a clever way to make the tabs look cooler. What I really want to know is how they do these pictures of their characters with a white background and just a shadow. -- BrianG 13:19, 27 January 2007 (CST) :::::::Its probably photoshop or some other image editing program. You might just want to ask Kaya about it though. Pretty sure he would be willing to help you out.— [[User:Azroth|'Azroth']] 13:22, 27 January 2007 (CST) ::::::::Yeah, I'll probably do that. I'm guessing it might be some graphic design trickery that is out of my league though, hahaha. -- BrianG 13:23, 27 January 2007 (CST) ::::::::: I noticed you're doing some work on your userpage.. i like what you're doing with the menu bar on the top. <3 Misanthropist 13:30, 30 January 2007 (CST) Sadi's Benediction Blast! You got Sadi's Benediction before I did. Did you farm or buy it? If farm, was it a tough/long farm? If buy, how much(hoping you got a good deal)? --8765 20:33, 29 January 2007 (CST) :Hehehe I am really pleased with this staff! Looks great and the mods are ideal. I just farmed it this weekend so I can give you the specific details. :) Party size was 4, me with a protection monk kind of like this, my girlfriend running acolyte of balthazar, an elementalist we partied up with at random, running an SF build, and he brought along a hero ele also running SF as we couldn't find any other randoms to join us, and weren't sure how much damage was needed. Anyway, we got lucky and it dropped on the first run. It might have been the supposed "beginner's luck" programming, as I don't think my girlfriend or I had been to that explorable area yet. He wasn't too tough to take down, the difficult part was getting there. I think we had a bit of DP by the time we got to him. Its not very far, but on the way is a group of roaring ether and sapphire djinns (pretty easy), and a large group of skree harpies that almost wiped us. I think there are 2 pathways you can take, both run into harpies, but one comes up behind the boss which seemed to work better. We tried a few times to duplicate it, so the other guy got a drop, but we almost wiped a few times and then gave up. We are kind of amateurs though so I'm sure a strong coordinated team would have an easy time. I don't even normally farm greens but I just didn't want to spend money on a +20% staff wrap so I thought I'd give it a shot. I got the impression that it is a hard drop to get, so as I said we may have been lucky. :) -- BrianG 00:28, 30 January 2007 (CST) ::I couldn't help but notice this as I am kind of obsessed with green farming. I have around 350 different greens in storage (that's one big storage :P ). Might I suggest a different approach if you wish to solo the boss. Using a shackles warrior (warrior with attack skills, Flail, Dolyak Signet, a heal, and Spirit Shackles.) Pick some heroes and hench and head out Tihark Orchard. Follow south and if you follow the path correctly to his group, you will only have to face 4 groups of Harpies. Once at his group, kill everyone except him and pull your forces back breaking aggro and far enough so that when you come back to solo Sadi, they are grayed out. Keep shackles on him and attack away. Won't take but a couple of minutes to solo and you are guaranteed the green if it drops. ::And congrats on the green. :D — Gares 15:44, 30 January 2007 (CST) :::Seems iffy about the flagging. I try and go for "honest" solo farming (yeah, it sounds weird). Typically I use Shadow Form+silver or 55+sliver. --8765 15:53, 30 January 2007 (CST) :::Thanks! And thanks for the suggestions as well. So far I only have a necro and monk that far into nightfall, and haven't got around to creating a 55 Sliver build or something for my monk. Some of this information is still really helpful though. I did not know that moving your henchmen or heroes out of range would remove them from the drop-pool. Is this information on the wiki somewhere? Or should it be? Also, maybe either of you might have some information about this: I know I have read before about so-called "beginner's luck" programming that increases the drop rates for an area you are exploring for the first time. Has anyone actually verified if this is true, and if so, does it also affect the droprate of green items? Does anyone know an approximate drop rate for green items? As in, how many times do you have to solo a boss on average to get the green? There doesn't seem to be any info at all in the green item article or the drop rate article. Thanks! -- BrianG 16:05, 30 January 2007 (CST) ::::Blah, shadow form really doesn't last long enough, even with extra aggro. And with 55+sliver, the kournan mes are very annoying. I might have to resort to flag-killing. :( --8765 16:59, 30 January 2007 (CST) :::::Flagging is actually a well known technique. I didn't know it wasn't documented on wiki or if it is, it's just been used since the compass controls have been added to the UI. Anything regarding Guild Wars, including bugs and exploits are recorded so that users are aware. Unless you can solo your way to a mark and then solo his group, it's either PuGing in which case you have two variables, getting the green to drop and then getting the green to assign to you, or flagging and having only one variable which is getting the green to drop. :::::Yeah, "honest" and "solo" in the same sentence when talking about farming doesn't really fit together. ;) The iffy statement may need to be expanded on though, as I'm not sure what you mean by that. In certain areas, by flagging and having a solid, general build, you can solo every boss in that area. I, personally, can solo on estimate 94% of the bosses in Nightfall (Nightfallen Jahai's environmental effect drives me crazy) and it's the same way for bosses in Prophecies and Cantha with my warrior builds. I rarely use an enchantment needed soloist, like a 55, unless it is quicker than taking out the group around the boss. As 8765 found out, most patrols have some sort of enchantment removal, which makes complete soloing rather tricky at times. :::::As for drop rates of greens, there is no documented information available to the public regarding the percentage of a green drop variable or if certain bosses have different drop rates than others. It is certain that it is a fairly low percentage. The only way to ensure you get the highest drop rate as possible is to first solo a boss. This ensures that you and only you will recieve anything the boss drops. Second, is the infamous anti-farm code. Another unknown variable which has been speculated at for a long time. It is certain that it was placed to counter bots/gold farmers. I have not noticed when it activates, as you have to have your hints windows checked in options. I do know that it affects your drop rate and "grows" over time if all you do is farm an area. What I personally do is farm a boss or a group for around 20 runs or so, go to another area and do the same and continue that for about 4 or 5 areas. Then to be certain, I do some high level missions, such as the ones on the Ring of Fire Islands or the ones in the Realm of Torment. There's a theory that doing missons and/or quests lower this anti-farm code. In addition to missions, the theory expands to doing higher level missions lowers anti-farm code quicker. As it will undermine ANet's fight against bots/gold farmers to release the exact information, it will never be revealed unless there is a leak in the company. :::::*Gasps for air*. I hope this longwinded speech helps to understand a little more about farming. — Gares 12:28, 31 January 2007 (CST) ::::::Gares, thanks for all the helpful info. I figured A-net's concerns about farming were the reason that there was no confirmed data about this sort of thing, it makes sense. In regards to whether the flag trick is documented on the wiki, I definitely think it should be. Or at least the wiki should have general information that explains that the "drop-pool" only applies to those within range, the flag trick is pretty intuitive once you know that drops work that way (I didn't). Anyway, my friends and I have already started implementing this method when fighting bosses to increase our chances of getting a green drop, so thanks again for the info! :) -- BrianG 12:41, 31 January 2007 (CST) :::::::There's an thread on gwguru about the ethics of hench-flag farming. Simply put, the henchmen do all the work, but at the last second, you "kick" them out of the group, and arguably steal the drops (particularly the the greens). That's the "iffy" I was referring to. This is merely an exploit, which eventually a.net might fix or change something about it. But, when you compare this technique to true solo farming (55, shadow form+sliver, etc), I think true solo farming looks more "honest," since you did all the work (not necessarily including designing the solo build). --8765 14:01, 31 January 2007 (CST) ::::::::Okay, I get see where you are coming from now. Unfortunately, I don't see how ethics can apply to something that has no sense of consciousness. For example, a real life farmer uses tractors to plow his fields and using a hopper to plant his seeds, an automated sprinkler systems to keep his crops watered, and even machines to pick his crops. You could say his machines do all the work and are kicked before any benefit comes from the crops the machines labored so hard to keep growing and keep healthy. Whether the farmer sells the crops or keeps them for his family to eat, the machines do not receive any "loot". They do receive maintainence like oil changes and new parts, but that also goes for a player's heroes. They receive better weapons, skills, runes, insignas, and even new armor skins. But that's a lengthy debate not for a user's talk page. ;) ::::::::As for solutions, I can't really see how they can mess with the compass controls as that would defeat the purpose of being able to control your hench/heroes. I guess on whether it would be "fixed" or not would be if it had any damaging effects on the in-game economy and I think they are doing that just fine on their own with the Treasure, the pick-your-salvage option, and nearly every boss dropping a perfect green. :P And I'm not sure bots/gold farmers would use this technique for a possible chance at a green item. That would be inefficient on their part for what their intentions are, to make as much gold as possible in as little time as possible. So it wouldn't deter them any. If they were going to do something, it would probably be to allow grayed out chars to receive assigned items, but I could see leeching being a problem in party farming then. Another way would be to lower the drop rates if only one "friendly" is in the area, though that would hurt other farmers like 55ers. But that's just brainstorming off the top of my head. Since it has been around for as long as the Nightfall Preview Event has, it doesn't seem like much of an issue to them. Though I don't work for ANet, so I couldn't tell you if it's just taking them a long time to decide on a course of action or they are leaving it as is. — Gares 14:50, 31 January 2007 (CST) Henchmen are simply replacing real people, and they get their fair share (even the slackers unfortunately). Your farmer analogy is skewed because the tractors and equipment are merely tools, and they cost money to buy & maintain. Some of money you earn from the crops goes back to the machines and equipment. In the flag-hench case, your weapons/skills/etc are your tools, and the henchmen are your day laborers. The henchmen could easily be real players instead, and this case wouldn't be much different. Ethics don't have to apply only to living creatures. In this case, the ethics deal with stealing and getting more than what you deserve. --8765 15:12, 31 January 2007 (CST) :Hmmm an interesting discussion and I can see both sides of it. The farming analogy was definitely entertaining but whether henchman are the same as machines or should be thought of as people is really subjective and vague. I think what 8765 is saying is more about personal ethics (earning what you get) rather than fairness to the henchmen. I suppose it does make sense that henchmen eat up drops, but I've never understood why they decided to use the same system for heroes! Since you have to provide your heroes with weapons it doesn't really make sense that the weapons they gain from killing a foe cannot be used. Its also unrealistic. If I was adventuring with a hero named Koss in real life, and a green sword dropped for him, I'd be pretty irritated when that sword "disappeared", and I had to give him one of my own. ;) -- BrianG 15:44, 31 January 2007 (CST) Heh, I just soloed her 3 times, no drop ~.~ — Skuld 15:47, 31 January 2007 (CST) :Yeah, I've tried about 5-6 times, 3 blues, rest all white trash (pun partially intended). If the drops for your heros went to you (to supposely give back to your heros), then absolutly no one would PUG with more than 1 other person. If a 3rd or more player comes along with their heros, that means less drops for you and your heros. --8765 17:53, 31 January 2007 (CST)